Seems we are lacking a great Nickel Corner. Tyrann Mathieu got busted for weed again recently.... Im pretty sure he will go to the draft next year. With that said.... where will he project to go? He probably can be had for a great price.

Thoughts? I know he is an idiot but his issue is with marijuana .... that is a minor issue imo.

Love him as a football player, but I think he is undraftable at this point. I'd be pretty shocked to see any NFL team take a chance on him even as an undrafted free agent. He might have to go the Canadian football route, or the Arena league, to prove that he can get himself clean. Personally, even though I think he's a great football player, i think his future is as a pothead, not as an NFL player.

T-Sizzle wrote:Seems we are lacking a great Nickel Corner. Tyrann Mathieu got busted for weed again recently.... Im pretty sure he will go to the draft next year. With that said.... where will he project to go? He probably can be had for a great price.

Thoughts? I know he is an idiot but his issue is with marijuana .... that is a minor issue imo.

Is he someone we would target? Give him a chance to shape up?

Its actually like his 3rd run in with mary jane that we know of for sure. It wouldn't shock me if their were more incidents. He got busted with synthetic mary jane and suspended 2 years ago. Then kicked off the team for what most insiders believe is multiple drug (mary jane) test failures, and than was in a house where the police seized mary jane just recently. You may consider it minor but the NFL doesn't so buyer be ware.

As a player I think he really would be best as a free safety. He's more of a ball hawk and creates turn overs by stripping balls and taking gambles and reading QB's eyes. As a cover guy I question his strength, size and speed. It won't shock me if he runs a mid 4.5 40 yard dash which tells you about his straight line speed. His shuttle and first 20 might be good enough though to show he has good enough quick twitch speed. He has good hip turn which is important. He's a bit on the small side and I've seen him get pushed around a bit with physical receivers.

On the positive I think he could be a GREAT return guy and I do believe he could become a good free safety, maybe even elite.

If Burfict didn't get drafted even after playing last year and being a really good player this year in the pros, there is still no way in hell Mathieu is drafted. He's PacMan Jones in the post PacMan era. At one time he'd have been a top 5 pick. Now teams know they can get him in free agency and risk absolutely nothing. He's too much of a risk. If he had gone into rehab right away, then things would have been different. He continued on for over a year of just denying it. That's a little too much of a risk. I wish nothing but the best for the kid. He's such an amazing talent on the field, and seems to have a family that truly loves him and has been trying like crazy to help him. I love how his Dad has come out and Les Miles have come out and both said it was about this kid's life...not football. Same with the QB from TCU. This is what needs to happen in these situations, and it needs to happen sooner than later.

SharkHawk wrote:If Burfict didn't get drafted even after playing last year and being a really good player this year in the pros, there is still no way in hell Mathieu is drafted. He's PacMan Jones in the post PacMan era. At one time he'd have been a top 5 pick. Now teams know they can get him in free agency and risk absolutely nothing. He's too much of a risk. If he had gone into rehab right away, then things would have been different. He continued on for over a year of just denying it. That's a little too much of a risk. I wish nothing but the best for the kid. He's such an amazing talent on the field, and seems to have a family that truly loves him and has been trying like crazy to help him. I love how his Dad has come out and Les Miles have come out and both said it was about this kid's life...not football. Same with the QB from TCU. This is what needs to happen in these situations, and it needs to happen sooner than later.

Throwdown wrote:Like Scott said, he isn't coming to the NFL this offseason, kind of a non discussion at this point.

After his first mistake where he got kicked off the team he said he was coming back. He then had a second mistake in October I believe ..... I figured a return to LSU was out after the second mistake and he would have to go to the NFL.

No, he's re-enrolling. He has worked hard this time around, but you have to wonder if he'll keep it up. I hope for his life's sake he does. Forget about the NFL at this point. Just get life on track. Everything else will work out.

SharkHawk wrote:If Burfict didn't get drafted even after playing last year and being a really good player this year in the pros, there is still no way in hell Mathieu is drafted. He's PacMan Jones in the post PacMan era. At one time he'd have been a top 5 pick. Now teams know they can get him in free agency and risk absolutely nothing. He's too much of a risk. If he had gone into rehab right away, then things would have been different. He continued on for over a year of just denying it. That's a little too much of a risk. I wish nothing but the best for the kid. He's such an amazing talent on the field, and seems to have a family that truly loves him and has been trying like crazy to help him. I love how his Dad has come out and Les Miles have come out and both said it was about this kid's life...not football. Same with the QB from TCU. This is what needs to happen in these situations, and it needs to happen sooner than later.

He's a choir boy compared to Janoris Jenkins.

As for him playing at LSU again, thats a legit question. Miles has refused to discuss it. The thought was that he would be back next year after going to rehab and getting his life straight but he has had 2 more issues come up since. He was arrested for being in a drug house and was in some video promoting some kind of club in Baton Rouge and it was another violation of NCAA rules.

Scottemojo wrote:He is planning a return to school next year, to try and re establish his stock I presume.

Throwdown wrote:Like Scott said, he isn't coming to the NFL this offseason, kind of a non discussion at this point.

SharkHawk wrote:No, he's re-enrolling. He has worked hard this time around, but you have to wonder if he'll keep it up. I hope for his life's sake he does. Forget about the NFL at this point. Just get life on track. Everything else will work out.

ESPN's Joe Schad is hearing that former LSU DB Tyrann Mathieu plans to announce that he will enter the 2013 NFL Draft Thursday.The last few months have not been kind to Mathieu, and despite appearing to be on the path back to rejoining the LSU football team, the junior had another drug related run-in with police. There may not be a player that will command more off field homework than Mathieu, specifically character and substance abuse questions, but it hurts even more that the Honey Badger has not stepped onto the football field this season. The last report stated that Mathieu is currently living with Patrick Peterson's family in Florida.

Not surprised. After he got arrested again I didn't think he would be back at LSU. I figured he might transfer though to a smaller school like Janoris Jenkins did and use his remaining 2 years to improve his draft stock. And as far as him being on a different level than Janoris Jenkins as far as screwing up.....you have no idea what you are talking about. Jenkins had violent crimes to go with his pot smoking as well as having 4 kids.

He'll get drafted. The Rams drafted Janoris Jenkins in the 2nd round I believe, and he had tons more off field incidents than the hunny badger did.

I would say he's better than Jenkins and wouldn't be surprised to see someone take him in the 2nd. We really don't need him...if Lane is as good as they said he was this year in the offseason, plus Thurmond, we already have 3 very good CBs plus depth. I'd take him in the 4th if he fell that low, but I'd rather spend our 2nd or 3rd on a OLB, WR, or RT.

The only way I see him being drafted by Seattle is as a backup to Earl Thomas, and he'd have to convert to safety to do that. Mathieu is only 5'9". Just seems like a stretch to me. PC/JS have avoided obvious headcases in the past, and the few times they didn't they ended up regretting it.

Also, I would not be surprised is Mathieu went undrafted- I see a lot of draft stock similarities to Vontaze Burfict. If he's available in the 5th round, it's not because he got less than 5th round grades. It's because he's not even on most draft boards.

The closest comparison of a player over the years I can think of is a guy named Chris Canty who played for Kansas State back in the mid-90's. Chris played for the Hawks for at least part of a season. He was amazing in college. He was the best DB in the country his last season, but he just never had "it" in the NFL. Chris wasn't a head-case in the way that Honey Badger seems to be, but he was always known as a me-first kind of guy and came off as a wanna-be Deion Sanders without all of the talent. He was a bit undersized, but had a game very much like Mathieu.

So yeah, I think a team will certainly take a chance on him, but things are changing because of Goodell and the ease with which he'll take a season away without much thought. This kid will come into the league with a target on him. If he says he'll enter a voluntary weekly testing program and do all of the things that Dez Bryant is doing now and should have done from day 1 then who knows.... the sky could be the limit.

I kind of feel like he's more Devin Hester than Adam Jones though in big play ability. Both great when they get the ball in their hands, but Hester wasn't really a DB, but he was listed as one in college (but drafted as an "athlete"). There was no way he was going to play that position of DB as a pro though. Mathieu can play DB as a pro like PacMan has and yes, he could be an excellent option as an "athlete", but I think I have to go back to my example of Burfict on a player that is an NFL quality player and has played really well, was a real thumper in college, and went completely unpicked. Yes, he was a LBer and they are easier to find than great DB's, but I think he'll have a very short leash and will go to a team like Dallas that thinks they can handle anything. I don't see him ending up in Seattle. I wish him all the luck in the world and hope he finds some happiness. I am quite the bleeding heart and I'll freely admit it. Over the years I've met more than my fair share of drug addicts, and in almost every case they were self-medicating over some pretty severe issues. Rarely did it start out as "just for fun" and develop to a hardcore drug addiction. Those who experiment with drugs in college and high school and such and don't have some deep underlying "issue" just typically leave it behind and don't fall into addiction. That's why when they talk about politicians who smoked pot once or 100 times in college I just don't care. I'd care if they were baked with their hand on the button. But in general, we all did stuff in college that we wouldn't want on camera. Hopefully this is the case with Mathieu. If not... then I hope he gets his head right and makes a living doing something that he's clearly very good at.

SharkHawk wrote: I am quite the bleeding heart and I'll freely admit it. Over the years I've met more than my fair share of drug addicts, and in almost every case they were self-medicating over some pretty severe issues. Rarely did it start out as "just for fun" and develop to a hardcore drug addiction. Those who experiment with drugs in college and high school and such and don't have some deep underlying "issue" just typically leave it behind and don't fall into addiction. That's why when they talk about politicians who smoked pot once or 100 times in college I just don't care. I'd care if they were baked with their hand on the button. But in general, we all did stuff in college that we wouldn't want on camera. Hopefully this is the case with Mathieu. If not... then I hope he gets his head right and makes a living doing something that he's clearly very good at.

He was busted for weed. Plenty of guys have been busted for it and its legal in two US states. Its NOT a "gateway" drug, no more than alcohol is..... although I think the federal government would like people to still believe it is.

SharkHawk wrote: I am quite the bleeding heart and I'll freely admit it. Over the years I've met more than my fair share of drug addicts, and in almost every case they were self-medicating over some pretty severe issues. Rarely did it start out as "just for fun" and develop to a hardcore drug addiction. Those who experiment with drugs in college and high school and such and don't have some deep underlying "issue" just typically leave it behind and don't fall into addiction. That's why when they talk about politicians who smoked pot once or 100 times in college I just don't care. I'd care if they were baked with their hand on the button. But in general, we all did stuff in college that we wouldn't want on camera. Hopefully this is the case with Mathieu. If not... then I hope he gets his head right and makes a living doing something that he's clearly very good at.

He was busted for weed. Plenty of guys have been busted for it and its legal in two US states. Its NOT a "gateway" drug, no more than alcohol is..... although I think the federal government would like people to still believe it is.

What anybody thinks about weed is immaterial. What the NFL thinks about weed is all that matters. And they don't like it.